TANAP: A Catalyst for Regional Peace and Development The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP), one of the most outstanding indicators of the unifying role of energy, is a regional peace project. TANAP is a concrete example of the excellent relations between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia based on mutual trust, and a symbol of the deeply rooted friendship between our countries. TANAP constitutes the backbone of the Southern Gas Corridor, which aims to deliver natural gas from the Caspian Region to Europe, through Georgia and Turkey. Thus, it forms the most important part of this corridor, with a length of around 3,500 kilometres. The change and transformation that Turkey has experienced over the past eighteen years also paved the way, in a sense, for the transmission of the region’s energy resources to Turkey and Europe. Thanks to our cooperation with Azerbaijan and Georgia, the BakuTbilisi-Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline was launched and commissioned in 2006. Later, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Natural Gas Pipeline was put into operation in 2007, to transport the natural gas produced at Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz Field to Georgia and Turkey. The will to improve this trilateral cooperation has brought TANAP into life. The first steps for TANAP were taken with an Intergovernmental Agreement
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RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN President of Turkey
signed on 25 October 2011 by Turkey and Azerbaijan. As a result of subsequent negotiations and thanks to the support of both Georgia’s and Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz Field partners, the Intergovernmental Agreement and the Host Government Agreement of TANAP were signed on 26 June 2012 by Turkey and Azerbaijan. Following the final investment decision taken by Shah Deniz Field partners for Phase 2 of the project in December 2013, works on the extension of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Natural Gas Pipeline, passing through Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey, and on the construction of TANAP were
accelerated. TANAP was built in a short time span of three years, after the laying of its foundation on 17 March 2015 and it began carrying gas to Turkey on 12 June 2018. In addition, the European connection of TANAP was inaugurated with a ceremony held on 30 November 2019. Turkey has given political and commercial support at all stages of the natural gas supply chain starting from Azerbaijan, passing through Georgia and Turkey, and extending to Europe. Turkish Petroleum, with its 19 % share, is the second largest investor in Shah Deniz Field and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Natural Gas Pipeline, and
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan puts his hand over his heart in a gesture of hello prior to a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel. CREDIT: Virginia Mayo/The Associated Press.
